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So easy to forget how frustrating Canada can be. I have had three major frustrations so far. Almost one for each day! I’m having trouble getting my elective going, I’m having trouble getting my phone back going, and I’m getting rained on. Ah. It is still good to be here, and I have to get through these things, but grr. I can barely put down words that make sense cause I’m so blinded with anger at Bell Mobility, who have gone back on what they told me to do, which makes a $1000 expenditure useless.

I’m back in my home and native land… and chilling with the Kemps! They have a new house that I’m lucky to stay in for a while, and Sam is hilarious still. He talks a lot now, which to me is surprising, but I suppose has crept up on everyone else slowly. We went for Tim Hortons yesterday morning (minutes after getting off the plane, it was awesome!). Sam informed me that he “thinks he’ll have a donut.” They learn so fast! This is him in the park yesterday and then this morning we found a ladybug and harassed it a little on the floor.

I saw Mike last night too, which was great cause he was able to sneak away from crazies-call (psych rotation) for dinner. I was too tired to watch him play hockey at night. The time change seemed easy to get used to at first but I think that’s just because I was so disoriented. I felt it this morning getting up. Hopefully I’m up to speed soon.

I’m all checked in for my flight to SYD. I had a little weight distribution problem at check in though. It wasn’t with my checked baggage, those were both easily under the allowable 32 kgs. It was my carry-on that had too much mass. The guy supervising the woman checking me in informed me that “It’s just not fair for you to carry more onto the plane than anyone else”. Ok… So I put some stuff into my other bags. Still not light enough. So I put more, till it was practically empty. Turns out my NAS weighs 3.6 kgs, and my bag 4.6 so they’re never going to go together and add up to 7. The supervisor kindly suggests that we check one bag. So I take out all my stuff for carry-on and checked an empty suitcase. For what reason, I don’t know. The guy said Air Canada will be better with carry on allowance and I’m going to pick it up in Sydney and try again. Let’s hope that goes well too… So weird. The plane weighs exactly the same… If this sounds like a weird ramble, it’s because it’s 445 AM and I have been packing since 6. My legs are killing me, and I should have saved some pain killers to take on the flight. I can feel the stiffness setting in.

But, with school done, the apartment empty and being on my way to Canada, I have a lot to think about. Looking forward to getting this flight done too!

The local students have a phrase that they use to fondly refer to their pre exam signs of stress… It’s purple panic time. There are Jacaranda‘s in bloom everywhere here. That’s how a UQer knows it’s time to panic. The trees make quite bright purple blooms, solidly without any green leaves. This picture was taken yesterday, but they are already a little past their prime and have started to grow green leaves a little bit.

Very appropriate…. my exam is in less than 50 hours. Too late if you’re just panicking now, but hopefully not to late for us.

My brother suggested I listen to music that has turned into a solid nap-maker for me. The artist’s name is Andy McKee. Sometimes I just put it on and before I know it I’m out of it. I’ve listened to his latest album probably 20 times, and I don’t think I’ve ever been conscious for the end. That said, the second song is very strangely interesting to me, and I don’t know why. Whenever the album is ticking along through the first song, I kinda ignore it, but then when this song comes on, it grabs my attention. Give it a listen.

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It’s Monday night here, but it could easily be any day of the week. It’s easy to get disoriented to time when all your days are the same and all you do is sit at the desk, or walk out to the living room. It’s good though. I wish I had more time to study, I feel like I’ve got too much ground to cover. Hopefully this week is really productive, sitting at the desk basically sunup to sundown and beyond. It’s is not long at all now and I’ll be sitting in Canada before I know it.

Today was the last session for me with PBLIV. We had a half session to finish out the important points of our case this morning and then headed over to a fish and chips shop close by called A Salt and Battery. Our case this week was Domestic Violence.

The year has been really good and I’m going to miss having these guys in the group. I know whenever you get randomly assigned people you have to work closely with, there’s so much potential for adversity, but I think our group really came together. It’s not that we’re all the same, cause we are definitely different, but things seemed to work. I’ll miss them!

This is a small post about a big (psychological) plus to Canada that came up when Brian and I were talking about going home. I had occasion to look through my old banking records and saw purchases from Tim Horton’s. This is what I saw. And yes, I chose one that was early in the morning on purpose! 😉

Now, that’s a good deal. But here, a plain black, nothing added, tar and water coffee does not go for less than $3 and can go up from there. What is the deal? Anyways, since they’ve got us trapped on this island I suppose they can charge whatever they want and we just pay. It seems the locals have gotten used to it…